Look at my Hair: official thread [Commercial] RELEASED!

Well, it's really a pity it was not possible to import the old forum database, so the LAMH thread will start from square 1 as all the rest.
I've been working very hard last two weeks, and I have several new features to show.
I'm currently uploading a new movie and will post here as well, so stay tuned!

Comments

New feature: the Scene Explorer
I worked very hard during last two weeks and so now it's time to start showing some of the new features.
The first one is the Scene Explorer, which allows to easily add a figure or a prop available in the Studio scene directly to the Look at my Hair framework.
With figures, it's even possible to choose specific nodes to load.

Let's continue showing new feature being added. It's now time for the "deformers and selection controls".

As from the blog:

"In this movie I'm giving a quick overview of the available deformers and how those can be combined to quickly shape hair. I'm also showing how to use selection controls to mask some areas so that deformers and styling will only apply to those.
Notice how some of the deformers can be applied to one or more axis simultaneously (see that small xyz mini widget along the deformer slider), and how you can combine deformers to produce different results.

As a side note, as explained earlier in this blog, preview hair may have some sharp corners but those will be "smoothed" during the render, producing nice spline curves.

Please watch the movie HD and full screen to appreciate all the details."

So... how well do you think it will be able to handle really light hair growth... by which I mean something like a man's hairy chest or a teenager's mustache?

Hi,

there are a number of features that I recently added that will allow that. I didn't share yet any information or movies about these, but here are some brief notes:

- density maps: it's possible to assign a density map (i.e. a greyscale texture) so that full hair growth will follow. Since black pixels mean density=0, density maps will also work as "cut maps" allowing to precisely define the hair contour area.
- hair remover tool: it's a brush tool that allows to visually "remove" hair (just like waxing). It's very simple and effective to use.
- customizable number of hair segments: for each LAMH project it's possible to define a custom number of hair segments. To make an example, if you plan to make some simple, short fur, 10 segments will definitely be more than enough; if you are going to produce some very curly, crispy hair, you may increase that to 40-50 segments so that strands geometry, having a higher number of points/segments, will be more precise and more detailed. This is the case also for hairy chest.
- multiple hair groups: it's possible to have multiple hair groups assigned to the same follicles: it's an important feature because it allows to "mix" hair with different properties (shaders, maps, shapes). Think for example how you can easily create a mix of curly and smooth hair, with different colors.
- root/tip width maps (yet to be done): similarly to density maps, this maps will allow to define custom width variations for hair strands.

I've never tried to render some very short hair, but will do that soon. I believe with all the features explained here it should be very possible.

As from the blog:
""Quick and dirty" example showing how you can assign a density map to a surface, and how that will affect hair population.
As explained in the movie, hair density will be calculated gathering grey scale values, where white pixels is full density, black pixels account for no hair, and grey values will be used to calculate interpolated densities."

there are a number of features that I recently added that will allow that. I didn't share yet any information or movies about these, but here are some brief notes:

- density maps: it's possible to assign a density map (i.e. a greyscale texture) so that full hair growth will follow. Since black pixels mean density=0, density maps will also work as "cut maps" allowing to precisely define the hair contour area.
- hair remover tool: it's a brush tool that allows to visually "remove" hair (just like waxing). It's very simple and effective to use.
- customizable number of hair segments: for each LAMH project it's possible to define a custom number of hair segments. To make an example, if you plan to make some simple, short fur, 10 segments will definitely be more than enough; if you are going to produce some very curly, crispy hair, you may increase that to 40-50 segments so that strands geometry, having a higher number of points/segments, will be more precise and more detailed. This is the case also for hairy chest.
- multiple hair groups: it's possible to have multiple hair groups assigned to the same follicles: it's an important feature because it allows to "mix" hair with different properties (shaders, maps, shapes). Think for example how you can easily create a mix of curly and smooth hair, with different colors.
- root/tip width maps (yet to be done): similarly to density maps, this maps will allow to define custom width variations for hair strands.

there are a number of features that I recently added that will allow that. I didn't share yet any information or movies about these, but here are some brief notes:

- density maps: it's possible to assign a density map (i.e. a greyscale texture) so that full hair growth will follow. Since black pixels mean density=0, density maps will also work as "cut maps" allowing to precisely define the hair contour area.
- hair remover tool: it's a brush tool that allows to visually "remove" hair (just like waxing). It's very simple and effective to use.
- customizable number of hair segments: for each LAMH project it's possible to define a custom number of hair segments. To make an example, if you plan to make some simple, short fur, 10 segments will definitely be more than enough; if you are going to produce some very curly, crispy hair, you may increase that to 40-50 segments so that strands geometry, having a higher number of points/segments, will be more precise and more detailed. This is the case also for hairy chest.
- multiple hair groups: it's possible to have multiple hair groups assigned to the same follicles: it's an important feature because it allows to "mix" hair with different properties (shaders, maps, shapes). Think for example how you can easily create a mix of curly and smooth hair, with different colors.
- root/tip width maps (yet to be done): similarly to density maps, this maps will allow to define custom width variations for hair strands.

Yyyyyessss!! :lol: Are hair length maps also on the to-do list?

Length maps? Why would we need those since we have the scale tool to do that? Consider yourself spank'd! LOL

Length maps based on objects' UVs would be quicker and would allow a more uniform/smoother job than the scale tool in some instances (open the template in photoshop, use a brush or the gradient tool and voila! :-) ). I tend to prefer that way when playing with hair in Carrara, especially since I'm more at ease with 2D than 3D painting.

Although one thing that would be even more useful and time-saving would be a Recomb Tool. :wow:

I cheated on this because I used a red fox model (arctic foxes look a little bit different, more compact and less skinny, slightly different head shape.
The process of creating fur was straightforward and, believe it or not, I didn't need to comb hair at all.
The whole fur has been accomplished using the taper, spherize and length deformers, and the randomize roots and randomize length on full hair.
Used the scale tool a little bit just to balance some fur spots, and rendered in 22 minutes using the advanced shader provided with LAMH.
Added a subtle HDR toning to enhance contrast a bit.
Hope you like it..."

I'm amazed at how natural it looks without the combing, i would have though that around the shoulders at least you may need to comb the hair direction but it looks nice to me.

Hi, well the "spherize" deformer really comes handy because it allows to "drape" hair in a direction. And also the "taper" deformer, which can be used to equalize strand lenghts very easily. After using those two deformers, I was almost done with shaping guide hair.

The old thread is here. It's a bit long at 43 pages, though. A pity the posted pics don't work yet, it was pretty amazing watching each new feature develop. There were also a lot of impressive YouTube links, I'm not sure how easy these would be to copy/fix/paste into your browser's address bar.